The Porto Alegre Metropolitan Area

Abstract

This article presents the findings of a multidisciplinary study regarding socio-spatial changes in the Porto Alegre Metropolitan Area (PAMA) that is part of the project entitled “The Metropolis Observatory: territory, social cohesion and democratic governance”, developed by a network of researchers in Brazil’s main metropolises. The article provides a brief overview of the metropolization process in Brazil as a contemporary urban phenomenon and then goes on to briefly outline the history of the formation of the PAMA and its place in the urbanization and metropolization process in Brazil over the last three decades, highlighting the effects of the different economic models adopted by the country’s government during the period, and market globalization and liberalization. Finally, it discusses socioeconomic and socio-spatial changes over the last three decades, using a specific methodology to construct a socio-spatial typology that reflects the role played by socio-occupational categories in the metropolitan and intrametropolitan landscape.